The Committee on Small Body Nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union approved the name “7307 Takei” for the asteroid previously labeled “1994 GT9,” [StarTrek.com] reported.

The Takei reference will be used in the scientific community to identify the minor body from now on. Only about 14,000 asteroids have been named after specific people, out of about 400,000 such bodies known to exist.

“I am honored, indeed transported to the galaxies, to know that my name has been assigned to an astronomical object in our solar system,” Takei told the site. “I am yet to come down to Earth.”